Strip coating apparatus



Feb. 24, 1959 Filed April 12. 1955 Glc. J. WAKEFIELD STRIP COATING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 24, 1959 G. c. J. WAKEFIELD STRIP COATING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 12, 1955 United st Patent 9" STRIP COATING APPARATUS Gordon 'Cecil John Wakefield, Leicester, England, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemlngton, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey This invention relates to a strip coating apparatus and 1s illustrated as embodied in an apparatus for the application of an activating fluid to the previously cemented surface of a strip of material. 1

One well-known method of making insoles is to attach to the margin of a flat insole a strip of rib-forming material which is attached to the flat piece by adhesive carried on the bottom of the flanges of the strip. Since the strip material is provided upon reels which are purchased in considerable quantities it is likely that some of the supply willstay in stock unused for a sufficient period topermit the previously applied adhesive to become dry and nontacky. It then becomes necessary to reactivate the adhesive by the application of a liquid activating material to the bottom surfaces of the flanges of the strip. One machine for making insoles by the attachment of such rib forming strips is disclosed in Mariner et al., U. S. Patent No. 2,613,377, dated October 14, 1952. A machine for forming such strips in a variety of styles is disclosed in Clark, U. SLPatent No. 2,502,615, dated April 4, 1950.

One simple way of activating theadhesive coating is to pass the ribbed strip material, as it is being fed to applying machine of the type illustrated in the Mariner patent, over a small roll which 'is rotatably mounted so that a portion of its periphery dips in a bath of suitable activating liquid. This does not Work out satisfactorily in practice, however, because if some time elap'ses between consecutive operations of the attaching machine, the activating liquid on the exposed portion of the periphery of the coating roll evaporates and, when the machine is started again, a short length of the ribbed strip material is not activated because of the dried portion of the roll. Consequently,a weak bond is likely to be formed when that dry portion of the strip material is pressed against an insole.

An object of the invention is to provide a stripcoating apparatus which may be-used for the delivery of an activating fluid to, a strip of material and in which .dry spots on the roll ,are avoided by. a simple arrangement which avoids the use of power driven parts.

A feature of the invention resides in a device for imparting at least a part of a revolution to the coating roll as the feeding movement of the strip material is started, to avoid the occurrence of dry spots on the roll. Such a movement may readily be imparted by a pawl and ratchet mechanism connected, for example, to the starting treadle of the strip applying machine.

This and other features of the invention will best be understood from a consideration of the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the strip-materialactivating apparatus attached to a fragment of the head of an attaching machine;

Fig. 2 is a' detail .in side elevation and on a larger scale of means for turning a coating roll in the activating apparatus;

2,874,675 l atented Feb. 24,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in end elevation of a portion of the activatingapparatus;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line IV-IV of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 shows an end view of a typical form of ribbed strip material. I

The novel strip.coating apparatus is herein shown as mounted for example, upon a strip-laying and attaching machine such as that shown in the previously mentioned Patent No. 2,613,377, intended particularly for securing preformed rib strips to insoles. i

To theoperating instrumentalities of such machines there is supplied strip material 10 such as that shown in Fig. 5 from a reel (not shown), suitably supported on a bracket at the rear of the machine (i. e. the left hand side of the'machine as viewed in Fig. 1 of the drawings of the above-mentioned Patent No. 2,613,377). The strip material 10 will usually comprise a rib 12 and flange portions 14 and 16. The under sides of said portions 14, 16 will have a previously applied coating 18 of adhesive.

The strip then passes through guides 20, 22 having strip-receiving slots 24, and 26 therein respectively. The guides 20, 22 are secured to a bracket 28 which is secured by screws 29 to the head F of 'the strip attaching machine, at the front thereof (in place of the bracket referred to as the bracket 250 in said Mariner et a1. patent). The guide 22 locates the strip material (in a direction considered widthwise of the material) With respect to a coating roll 30, adhesively coated flange por-' tions 14 and 16 of the strip material being pressed against the periphery of the roll by means of a plurality of undriven rotary brush members 32. After leaving the activating roll, the strip material passes over a guide pulley 34 having a hub 35 and being freely rotatable on a stud 36 supported in a horizontal arm 38 of the bracket 28, and partly round a smaller guide pulley 40 rotatably mounted on a stud 42 carried by an auxiliary bracket 44 secured to the bracket 28. From the pulley 40 the strip material passes to the strip-applying instrumentalities of the attaching machine which may be used to secure the rib to an insole.

The coating roll 30 has a shaft 46 freely rotatable in bearings in a receptacle 48 and is normally turned by the frictional engagement of the strip therewith. One end portion of the shaft extends through a rear end wall of the receptacle and has secured to it a ratchet wheel 50 (for-apurpose hereinafter'referred to). The receptacle 48 has secured to it a cover 52 and this cover has upstanding lugs 54 having heightwise extending slots 56 (Fig. l) in which is adjustably secured a stud 58 on which the brush members 32 are rotatably mounted.

The receptacle 48 is supported by a platform 60 extending forward from the bracket 28 and is supplied with activating liquid from an inverted bottle 62 supported on the cover 52 of the receptacle. A cap 64 of the bottle has extending through it a tube 66 having two bores p and 67 therein. One end of the longer bore 65 lies very close to the upper end of the inverted bottle. The other end of this bore opens through an inclined face 68 at the lower end of the tube. The other bore 67 opens out through the face of the tube at a level below that of the opening of the bore 65 and extends to a level just within the bottle at whichv level it opens out into the bottle.

- The lower end portion of the tube fits into a bore in a successive operations of the machine, the activating liquid on the exposed portion of the roll has evaporated, no portion of the adhesive coating on the strip material is left unactivated on starting up of the machine. To this end, the machine is provided with a slip drive connection for at least partially rotating the roll 30, before feed of the strip material commences, to bring activating liquid into contact with the strip material.

For this purpose a clutch-actuating treadle T' (Fig. l) with which the strip attaching machine is provided is connected via a Bowden cable with a lower end portion of a rod 72 slidable vertically in a bore in a lug 74 on the bracket 23. The rod 72 has a bifurcated head portion 76 connected by a pin 78 to a slide 80. A compression spring 82 surrounding the rod 72 between the lug 74 and a collar 84 on the rod normally urges the rod, and with it the slide 80, upwardly. When the treadle T is-moved to a position in which a rearwardly extending lip 81 catches under a latch 83, a clutch C is engaged and feeding of the strip begins. The clutch and treadle are shown as being similar to those illustrated in Fig. 17 of the Clark patent although it will be understood that corresponding structure shown in the Mariner et al. patent may be employed.

The slide is slidably mounted in a guide member 86 secured to the bracket 28 and there is a cam slot 88 (Fig. 4) formed in a side face of the slide. The cam slot receives a roll 90 rotatably mounted on a pin 92 carried in the lower part of a lever 96. The lever 96 is pivoted on a pin 98 having an end 99 threaded in a cross piece 100 bridging lugs 102, 103 formed on the guide member 86.

The upper part of the lever 96 has formed thereon a toothed segment 104 meshing with a gear 106 fixedly secured on one end portion of a short shaft 108 mounted (to lie coaxially with the roll-carrying shaft 46) in a bearing member 110 upstanding from the bracket 28. The other end portion of the shaft 108 has fixed thereto an arm 112 on which a pawl 114 is pivotally mounted. The pawl engages the teeth of the ratchet wheel 50 and is urged into contact therewith by means of a light spring strip 116 secured to the arm 112 by a nut 118 which serves also to clamp on said arm a pin carrying the pawl 114. A guide plate 119 (Fig. 3) fastened to the platform 60, bears on the end of the ratchet wheel 50 to keep it alined with the pawl 114.

The cam slot 88 (Fig. 4) has a lower short vertical portion 120 (Fig. 2), an inclined portion 122 above that and, above the inclined portion another vertically disposed portion 124. The arrangement is such that the slide 80 is initially positioned so that the cam roll 90 lies in the lower portion of the cam slot and is about to enter the inclined portion.

During an initial portion of the depression of the clutch-controlling treadle T hereinbefore referred to, the slide 80 is moved downward so that the inclined portion 122 of the cam slot tracks past the roll 90, swinging the lever 96 (clockwise as seen in Fig. 2) to rotate the shaft 108 carrying the arm 112 in a direction to cause the pawl 114 to rotate the ratchet wheel 50 and hence the coating roll 30 in a counterclockwise direction as seen in Fig. 1, thus insuring that a portion of the periphery of the roll which has been freshly coated with activating liquid is brought into contact with the strip material. Because of a lost motion connection between a rod 132 connecting the treadle T and a clutch operating arm 134, the clutch C is not engaged at this time.

During the final portion of the depression of the treadle the clutch C is engaged to initiate operation of the strip-applying machine and during this portion of movement of the treadle the upper vertical portion 124 of the cam slot 88 tracks past the cam roll 90 leaving the position of the gear segment undisturbed. As the machine operates, movement of strip material past the activating device rotates the coating roll and causes activating liquid to be applied to the adhesively coated flange portions of that material, and during such rotation of the coating roll the ratchet wheel 50 rotates, the pawl 114 (Fig. 2) riding idly over the teeth thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a strip coating apparatus, a receptacle for liquid activating material, a roll dipping in said material, a ratchet wheel attached to said roll, a pivoted, pawl-carrying arm coacting with the ratchet wheel, a gear movable with said arm, a segment meshing with said gear, a bracket pivotally supporting said segment, a slide guided in said bracket, and a cam connection between said segment and said slide to swing the segment as the slide is moved.

2. In a strip coating apparatus, a supply receptacle, a coating roll dipping in the receptacle, means for guiding a strip over the roll to turn the roll frictionally, a treadle operative upon movement to a predetermined position for initiating operation of a strip feeding means, means mounting said coating roll for free rotation in one direction independently of said treadle whereby the roll is normally rotated during a coating operation only by movement of the strip thereover, and means operated by said treadle in response to movement part way toward said position for positively turning said roll before feeding movement of the strip begins.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,016,011 Himofi Jan. 30, 1912 1,625,434 Smith Apr. 19, 1927 1,702,140 Topham Feb. 12, 1929 2,046,062 Eppler June 30, 1936 2,745,533 Keleher May 15, 1956 

